2953] 



PLANTS COLLECTED IN NYASALAND 



213 



Knowltonia Salisb. differs from Anemone L. in that the fruits are fleshy drupe- 

 lets, the whole fruiting head resembling the fruit of a species of Rubus. Although 

 K. transvaalensis has been gathered on more than a score of occasions, it has 

 not, so far as I am aware, ever been collected in fruit. This may be due to a 

 number of causes, among which are the reluctance of collectors to press such 

 fleshy fruits and the probable attraction they offer to fruit-eating birds. The spe- 

 cies is, however, so strikingly similar to certain species of Knowltonia that I 

 have no hesitation in placing it in that genus, which, apart from K. transvaalensis , 

 is confined to South Africa. 



Thalictrum rhynchocarpum Q. Dill. & A. Rich. Ann. Sci. Nat. EL 14: 262. 1840. 

 Thalictrum mannii Hutch. Kew Bull. 1927: 154. 1927. 



Thalictrum cbapinii B. Boiv. Rhodora 46: 395. 1944, pro parte, quoad typum. 

 Thalictrum impexum B. Boiv. Rhodora 46: 395. 1944. 

 Thalictrum innitens B. Boiv. Rhodora 46: 394. 1944. 



Zomba District: Zomba Plateau, occasional in grassy edges of rain-forest, 

 herb scrambling to a height of about 1.5 m., 1450 m., June 3, 1946, 16192. North 

 Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, apparently rare, open places in montane forest, 

 about 1 m. high, 2350 m., Aug. 17, 1946, 17281. Cameroon Mt., mountains and 

 highlands of eastern Africa from Abyssinia and A.-E. Sudan to the Cape Province 

 of South Africa. 



Ranunculus multifidus Forsk. Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. 102. 1775. 

 Ranunculus pubescens Thunb. Prodr. PI. Cap. 94. 1800. 

 Ranunculus forskoehlii DC. Syst. I: 303. 1817-1818. 

 [Ranunculus pinnatus (non PoirJ Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. 1: 9. 1868.] 



Cholo District: Cholo Mountain, frequent in marshy bottoms of gullies, herb 

 80-100 cm. high, flowers yellow, 1200 m., Sept. 28, 1946, 17853. Arabia and 

 Abyssinia, south to the Cape Province of South Africa and west of Nigeria and 

 Angola. 



Delphinium leroyi Franch. ex Huth, Bot. Jahrb. 20: 474. 1895. 

 Delphinium candidum Hemsl. Bot. Mag. pi. 8170. 1907. 



North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau, one plant found in open grassland, herb, 

 flowers white with purplish tinge, 2440 m., Aug. 11, 1946, 17172*; ibid., occa- 

 sional on edges of grassland paths, perennial herb 50-70 cm. tall, flowers pur- 

 plish white, 2350 m., Aug. 16, 1946, 17269. Southern A.-E. Sudan (Imatong Mts.), 

 eastern Uganda (Mt. Elgon), mountains and highlands of Tanganyika to Nyasaland. 



D. leroyi had not been recorded from Nyasaland until found there by Mr. Brass. 

 A further gathering has recently been received at Kew from Mr. P. O. Wiehe, who 

 states that it is locally common in grasslands on the Nyika Plateau. D. leroyi 

 has an interesting distribution in eastern Africa, being absent from Abyssinia 

 and the Kenya highlands. 



Delphinium dasycaulon Fresen. Mus. Senckenb. 2: 272. 1837. 



Kota-kota District: Nchisi Mountain, one example in a gully in Brachystegia 

 woodland, perennial herb 1.5 m. high, flowers blue, 1400 m., July 27, 1946, 16990*. 

 North Nyasa District: Nyika Plateau; Nchena-chena Spur, common on grassy 

 slopes, perennial herb, 80-100 cm. tall, flowers bright blue, showy, 1700 m., Aug. 

 10, 1946, 17150. A.-E. Sudan, Eritrea and Abyssinia, Cameroons and Nyasaland, 

 N. Rhodesia, and Belgian Congo. 



D. dasycaulon affords an excellent example of discontinuous distribution in 

 tropical Africa. As will be seen by the accompanying map, it is known at present 

 from three quite distinct regions although conditions which one would expect to 



